Dil Raju Age, Wife, Family, Biography & More

Bio/Wiki
Real name	Velamakucha Venkata Ramana Reddy
Profession(s)	• Film distributor • Film producer
Physical Stats & More
Height (approx.)	in centimeters- 170 cm in meters- 1.70 m in feet & inches- 5’ 7”
Eye Colour	Black
Hair Colour	Black
Career
Debut	Film (Producer) (Tamil): Dil (2003) Film (Producer) (Hindi): Jersey (2022)
Awards	2006: Best Feature Film Gold Award at the Nandi Awards for the Telugu film Bommarillu (2006) 2006: Best Film Award for the Telugu film Bommarillu at the Filmfare Awards 2008: Best Feature Film Bronze Award for the Telugu film Parugu (2008) at Nandi Awards 2011: Best Telugu Family Entertainer of the Year Award for the Telugu film Mr Perfect at Nagi Reddy Memorial Awards 2016: Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment Award for the Telugu film Sathamanam Bhavati (2016) at the National Film Awards 2016: Best Home-viewing Feature Film Award for the film Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu at the Akkineni Awards 2019: National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment Award for the Telugu film Maharshi at the National Film Awards 2019: Santosham D. Ramanaidu Smarakam Award at the Santosham Film Awards
Personal Life
Date of Birth	17 December 1970 (Thursday)
Age (as of 2024)	54 Years
Birthplace	Narsingpalli, Nizamabad district, Telangana
Zodiac sign	Sagittarius
Nationality	Indian
Hometown	Hyderabad
Religion	Hinduism [1]Chinnajeyyar
Caste	Reddy [2]Zoom Digital
Food Habit	Non-vegetarian [3]YouTube - Celebrity Media
Controversies	• Trolled for his controversial statement In 2022, Dil Raju faced severe backlash after remarking in an interview that the Tamil actor Vijay was more prominent than actor Ajith in Tamil Nadu. Dil Raju, during an interview, said, Ajith sir’s film will be released alongside mine in Tamil Nadu. It is well known that Vijay sir is Tamil Nadu’s number one star. As a result, his film (Varisu) deserves to be seen on more screens than Thunivu. The state has 800 screens in total.” He further stated “Both films are currently getting an equal number of screens. Because Vijay sir is a bigger star than Ajith, I’m literally begging for at least 50 more screens for my film." The comment didn't go well with the fans of Vijay and Ajith and they started criticizing Raju for his negative remark. Taking to Twitter, the netizens slammed Raju and called him out for being disrespectful. Later, in an interview, Raju issued a clarification regarding the same and said that his words were taken out of context. Further, Raju explained that during the interview, he discussed several positive aspects of both the Tamil actor (Vijay and Ajith); however, a single statement destroyed the entire interview. [4]The Times of India • Copyright case against Dil Raju In 2017, a case was registered against Dil Raju with the Hyderabad police under the copyright act. Reportedly, the case was filed after a writer, Shyamala Rani, filed a petition at the Miyapur court, accusing Raju's film Mr Perfect's (2011) storyline was copied from her novel that was published in 2010. According to sources, Shymala Rani alleged that the central theme of Mr Perfect (2017) was taken from the Tamil-language novel Na Manasu Korindi Ninne without her consent, which amounted to cheating. In an interview, a police official of Madhavpur Police station, Hyderabad, discussed the case and said, The complaint has been lodged on the name of Dil Raju aka Venkataramana Reddy under sections 120A, 415, 420 of the Copyright Act 63 under the IPC. Even director Dasaradh has has been named in the case.” • Dil Raju accused of blocking theatres Warangal Sinu, a film distributor, accused Dil Raju of blocking movie theatres in Hyderabad. Reportedly, in 2021, Raju replaced Sinu's film Krack (2021) with his film Master (2021). In an interview, Warangal Sinu talked about the same and explained that Raju owns multiple movie theatres in Hyderabad, due to which he is often alleged by producers of the Tamil film industry of blocking theatres for the release of films under his banner. During the same discussion, Sinu said that 'He is not Dil Raju, but Kill Raju' because he frequently conspires to kill the revenue of people who are not associated with his banner in the Tamil film industry. Sinu said, He is not Dil Raju anymore, but 'Kill' Raju -- killing the revenue of movies he doesn't own. The same producer had stated that dubbed movies cannot get a huge release in the Nizam area during festivals. Now, as he shares the revenue for Master, he has turned the situation in his own favour." [5]Republic World
Relationships & More
Marital Status	Married
Affairs/Girlfriends	• Sheela Kaur (rumoured) [6]International Business Times • Tejaswini
Marriage Date	Second Marriage: 10 May 2020
Family
Wife/Spouse	• First Wife: Anitha Reddy (Partner at Raju's film distribution business) (On 12 March 2017, Anitha died of cardiac arrest) • Second Wife: Vyagha Reddy (Former air hostess) Note: She changed her named from Tejaswini to Vyagha following her marriage with Dil Raju [7]The Times of India
Children	Son- Anvy Reddy Daughter- Hanshita Reddy (managing director at Sri Venkateswara Film Distributors)
Parents	Father- Shyam Sundar Reddy Mother- Prameelamma
Siblings	He has two brothers named Vijaysimha Reddya and Narsimha Reddy.

Some Lesser Known Facts About Dil Raju

• Dil Raju is an Indian producer and distributor who primarily works for Telugu cinema. He is known for producing the Hindi film Jersey, which starred Shahid Kapoor and Mrunal Thakur.

• Dil Raju was born into a Tamil-speaking family in Narsingpalli in the Nizamabad district, Telangana.

• In an interview, Dil Raju talked about his career as a producer and said that he had interest in films since 9th grade. While discussing the same, Dil Raju said,
  

  I have been attracted to films since my 9th class. Those days they used show films on 16mm screen using VHS tapes in our village.”

• Dil Raju did his secondary schooling at Mudakpally, Telangana and his higher secondary schooling at a school in Nizamabad.

• While pursuing his higher secondary education, Raju shifted to Hyderabad from Narsingpalli with his family. In Hyderabad, Raju and his brothers started an automobile business. In the automobile business, they used to deal with tractor spare parts.

• While working in the automobile business, Raju came into contact with some Hyderabad-based film distribution companies. In an interview, Raju talked about this and said,
  

  I shifted to Hyderabad during inter time. I started working in the automobile business started by my brothers in RP Road, Hyderabad. We used to deal with Tractor spare parts. Incidentally RP Road is famous for film distribution offices. The drivers and staff of those distribution offices used to come to our shop to do telephone calls. I also used to watch lots of films. I booked my ticket a week in advance for Kaliyuga Pandavulu release. I worked in automobile business from 1985 to 1991.”

• In 1994, Raju and his brothers ventured into the film distribution business. The same year, Raju formed a business partnership with Sri Lakshmi Venkateswara Cinemas Llp, a Hyderabad-based film distributor firm.

• In 1996, Raju started his film distributor firm, Sri Harshita Films, in Hyderabad; however, the business suffered significant losses due to flop films distributed by the venture, following which they decided to shut it down.

• According to Dil Raju, in 1997, following the failure of his film distribution firm, he decided to get back into his automobile business. In the same year, Dil Raju and his brothers used to run a chit-fund company.

• In 1999, Raju started another film distribution company named Sree Venkateswara Film Distributors at RP road, Hyderabad and the first film distributed was Oke Okkadu (1999). The firm distributed many Telugu films like Nuvvu Naaku Nachav (2001), Murari (2001), Kushi (2001), Aadi (2002), Athadu (2005), Chatrapati (2005), and Pokiri (2006). According to Raju, his third film distribution venture, Sree Venkateswara Film distributors experienced more than a 90 per cent success rate.

• In the early 2000s, Raju ventured into the film production business. In 2003, Raju and his brothers established Sri Venkateswara Creations, a film production studio, and the first film produced was Dil (2003), directed by V. V. Vinayak. In an interview, he spoke about how he came up with the name ‘Dil Raju.’ He said that following the success of his Telugu-language film Dil, he decided to keep his name ‘Dil Raju.’

• Raju produced various Telugu films like Bommarillu (2006), Kotha Bangaru Lokam (2008), Rama Rama Krishna Krishna (2010), Brindavanam (2010), Shaadi Mubarak (2021), and F3, Fun and Frustration (2022).

• Dil Raju has produced many Telugu films in collaboration with different production houses like Akasamantha (2009), Pilla Nuvvu Leni Jeevitam (2014), Sarileru Neekevvaru (2020), and Pagal (2021).

• In 2022, Raju produced his first Hindi film ‘Jersey.’ In the same year, he worked as a producer for HIT: The First Case and F2 Remake.
  

  Dil Raju during promotion for the Hindi film HIT: The First Case (2022)

• In December 2022, Dil Raju established his second production house ‘Dil Raju Productions.’ In an interview, Raju talked about this and announced her daughter Hanshita Reddy and nephew Harshith Reddy as the lead producers for the studio.
  

  A logo of Dil Raju’s production house

• In 2020, Dil Raju, amid the nationwide lockdown in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic in India, decided to take up the responsibility of three orphans residing in Atmakuri village of Yadadri district, Telangana. Reportedly, Satyanarayana, the father of the three children, died a year ago in 2019, and their mother, Anuradha, died after suffering from Covid complications. In an interview, Raju talked about the same and said,
  

  We are going through some hard times together and in such a scenario, every act of kindness is a ray of hope. I am extremely pleased to be able to do my little bit in taking the vision of a happy community forward. It was very recently that news of three young kids from Atmakur losing their mother just a few years after the passing away of their father, came to light. I am happy to welcome Manohar, Laysa and Yashwanth into my extended family today.

• According to an assistant film director from Dil Raju’s production house, he didn’t like to work with Raju. In an interview, while discussing the same, the assistant director explained that almost 50-60 directors were associated with the production house, but only 3-4 were promoted to the position of a film director. ^[8]The Times of India

• Dil Raju, following his marriage with Tejaswini, his second wife, changed her name from Tejaswini to Vyagha Reddy. Reportedly, her name was changed due to astrology.

• In an interview, Dil Raju revealed why he named his son Anvy Reddy. Raju said that the name Anvy includes the letters of the name of his first wife, Anitha and his second wife, Vyagha.

• In 2019, The Income Tax Department conducted a raid at Dil Raju premises following the release of his film Maharshi. Reportedly, the income-tax raid was conducted after suspected tax evasion and unaccounted cash transactions by Raju.

• In an interview, Dil Raju talked about his first wife, Anitha Reddy’s death, and said that during his wife’s death at a private hospital in Hyderabad, Raju was in the United States to supervise the arrangements for the shooting of his film Fidaa (2017). He immediately left for India following the news of Anitha’s death.

• After the death of Anitha Reddy, Raju’s first wife, he was devastated by the sudden shock. Later, in 2019, he met Tejaswini, a former air hostess in Hyderabad, while travelling on a flight. According to Raju, he dated Tejaswini for a year before marrying her. In an interview, Raju talked about his second marriage with Tejaswini and said that his daughter Hanshita Reddy convinced him to marry her. ^[9]The Economic Times